Reunion
by Meg0613
Summary: I can't wait for the episode with Anthony Edwards this week. It got me thinking about how Barba might feel if someone from Olivia's past showed up.
1. Chapter 1

Reunion

 _I am so excited for tomorrow's episode with Anthony Edwards, it got me thinking about how Barba might feel if someone from Olivia's past showed up suddenly._

For such an intelligent man Rafael Barba could be really slow to pick up on things at times. For such a seemingly confident (some might say arrogant) man he could also be very insecure at times. It was the combination of these two factors that had him sitting at home alone on Saturday night instead of attending Olivia's Police Academy reunion with her. Not only was he not attending it with her she was attending with someone else, her first partner Patrick Griffin. He took a sip of his scotch as thought back to the events that had gotten him in this situation.

They were in what he would call an awkward phase of their relationship. They had moved passed everything that had happened between them last spring and professionally they had been fine for months, personally though thigs were different since she had started seeing Tucker. Barba had found himself withdrawing a little personally from her. He tried not to but he couldn't help himself, he didn't like to think about her being with Tucker. Yet, he knew as her friend he had to start accepting the idea of it.

"So do you and Tucker have big plans for the weekend?" He asked her as they were walking out of his office Friday evening.

Oliva paused for a minute, looked at the ground and back up at him, "Actually Tucker and I aren't seeing each other anymore."

Barba felt guilty for the relief that washed over him when she said that somehow he managed to say, "I am sorry to hear that Liv" with some amount of sincerity.

"It's all right, it's just awkward telling people now. Anyway what about you any big plans?" She asked him.

"No, just watching the Mets and Giants play in the Wild Card game tonight." He told her.

"Hey do you want to come over and watch it? It comes on after Noah goes to bed." She offered.

Barba could feel the ridiculous smile on his face, "Sure, but why don't I come before Noah goes to bed and bring pizza. I haven't seen him in a while. "

It was Olivia's turn to smile, "That would be nice."

They ate pizza and Barba played Legos with Noah for a while before bed. Oliva smiled when she came back from putting him to bed and found Barba cleaning up Noah's toys.

"You know they are just going to be scattered everywhere again in the morning right?" She asked him with a laugh.

"Yeah, but I figured I could help." He said with a shrug.

The game ended with a Mets loss but Oliva and Barba had a good time talking and catching up during it. It was the most time they had spent together outside of work in a long time. It was well past midnight when Olivia yawned.

"I should go and let you get some sleep." Barba told her standing up and heading for her door, "I'm sure that Noah will be up early."

"Always" Olivia said with a groan as she stood up to walk him to the door, "This was really nice, I had missed this."

Barba turned back and looked at her trying to read the expression on her face, "Me too." He said before quickly kissing her cheek. "Let's not wait so long next time."

"OK" Oliva said obviously a little thrown by his gesture. The look on her face was now mixed with surprise and what at least to Barba appeared to be happiness.

An envelope on the table caught Barba's eye, it was obviously a formal invitation of some sort and it had the NYPD academy logo on it.

"My twenty fifth reunion." Oliva explained.

"That's great Liv, are you going?" He asked her.

"I haven't decided yet." She told him.

"You should go." He said before kissing her cheek one more time. "Have a good weekend Liv." He said before walking out of her apartment leaving her wondering exactly what was going on.

That had been two weeks ago and whatever awkwardness had been between them before was gone now, it had been replaced by a different kind of awkwardness. The new awkwardness was that kind that you feel at the start of a relationship which they both kept telling themselves was ridiculous since they had known each other for years and since they were just friends.

Olivia had replayed those two kisses on her cheek over and over again. At first she told herself that they meant nothing, but then she found herself thinking about them while they were discussing a case one day. Then she realized she was staring at his lips while he was talking, trying desperately to forget what they felt like against her cheek. Then she wondered what they would feel like against her lips. She quickly jumped out of her chair and began pacing his office.

"You all right Liv?" He asked her.

"Yeah, it's just kind of warm in here." She said taking off her jacket.

"You want some water?" He asked already pouring some into a glass.

Their fingers joined briefly when she took the glass from him and it was like a bolt of lightning shot through her. "You are being ridiculous Olivia." She told herself.

"Why don't we call it a night Liv. It's getting late." He suggested.

Oliva was suddenly grateful for the opportunity to leave. "Yes, I should get home." She told him almost throwing her glass of water at him.

As she was getting in bed that night Oliva heard the familiar gavel sound on her phone that went off when Barba texted her.

 _Just checking on you_

 _Thanks, I'm fine, going to bed early_

 _Good, do you and Noah want to go to do something this weekend?_

 _Sure, maybe Sunday? I have my reunion on Saturday._

 _I'm glad you are going._

He was glad that she was going, maybe he should offer to watch Noah for her. "Or maybe you should ask her if she would like company for the evening." He thought to himself. No, if she wanted him to go she would have asked him, after all it was her reunion. Barba tossed and turned all night thinking about Liv and that reunion. When he got up the next morning he decided to go for it. He would ask if he could take her to her reunion.

He thought about calling her but decided he would do it the right way, in person. He stopped at the coffee shop around the corner and picked up her favorite pastry and a large cup of coffee with her favorite hazelnut cream. He took a deep breath before walking into the squad room. He walked through the doors and stopped in his tracks when he saw Olivia talking closely to a man through the open blinds of her office. He watched her touch his arm and laugh. It almost looked like she was flirting with him.

"Finn, who's that?" Barba asked Olivia's new number two.

"Oh, that's her old partner." Finn said nonchalantly.

Barba shook his head, "That's not Elliot." He said almost to himself, he had never met Elliot but he had seen pictures of him. This man was taller and thinner, honestly he looked more like a doctor than a cop.

"No that's her very first partner, Patrick Griffin." Finn explained.

"I've never heard her mention him." Barba said.

"Yeah, I think they had some kind of issue…you know what they say about the first one." Finn joked.

Barba gave him a sharp look which Finn did not miss, just then Olivia's door opened and she and Patrick walked out. Barba felt his entire body cringe when he Patrick hugged her. Then he felt his heart fall when he heard him say, "Great, I'll see you on Saturday, pick you up at seven?"

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Reunion

Chapter 2

Barba had never been more grateful for his phone ringing, he quickly looked down at the screen, "I have to go, this is for Liv." He told Finn shoving the bag with the pastry and the cup of coffee at him as he all but ran from the room.

Finn just shook his head, "I see he didn't bring breakfast for everyone." He chuckled and started making his way towards Olivia's office where Griffin was leaving.

"Hey, Barba brought you breakfast, but he got a phone call and had to leave." He told her handing it to her.

"Barba was here? We didn't have a meeting." She said glancing in the bag she smiled when she saw her favorite and knew the coffee would be perfect too, Barba noticed those kinds of things. After being together for months Tucker still didn't know how she liked her coffee. "I wonder why he didn't stay?" she wondered out loud. She had already turned back to her office and missed Finn roll his eyes and shake his head as he wondered how two people could be so clueless.

Olivia texted Barba thanking him for the coffee and pastry and received a quick your welcome and nothing else, their communication over the next few days wasn't much more than that. When he did stop by the squad room late on Friday Olivia was on her way out.

"Leaving early?" He asked somewhat disappointedly he had hoped maybe they could go out for a quick drink.

"Yea, I need to go pick up my dress for tomorrow night." She told him, "Are we still on for Sunday?"

"Of course, how about the zoo?" Barba asked.

"Oh Noah would love that, you want to come over for breakfast first?" She asked him.

Barba smiled, whatever was going on with the former partner of hers must not be that serious if she was all right with him coming over first thing in the morning.

"' I will bring the pastries and coffee." He told her hoping the smile on her face wasn't too big.

Barba spent Saturday trying not to think about Olivia which was impossible. He couldn't help but picture her getting ready for her night out. He was glad that he didn't know what her dress looked like so he couldn't picture her in it. Of course he had seen Olivia dressed up enough times to know that whatever she was wearing she would be stunning in it. He wondered if she was wearing her hair up or down. He loved it when her hair was down. He shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts of Olivia and what she was wearing and who she was with. He especially tried not to think about this Patrick guy dancing with her tonight. That thought was enough to make him take a much larger drink of his scotch and promise himself tomorrow he would let Olivia know that he wanted to be more than just friends.

He left his apartment early on Sunday morning to make sure the pastry shop would still have everyone's favorites. He picked out two of Noah's favorite chocolate with sprinkles, he hoped Olivia didn't mind. He got their coffee and made his way to Olivia's apartment. When he approached the door he could hear voices from inside. He assumed that Noah was watching cartoons and rang the bell. He almost dropped the pastries and coffee when Patrick Griffin opened the door wearing an undershirt and what he assumed were his pants from the night before.

'Hi, um, I was supposed to…" Barba stammered as he quickly shoved the things he was holding at Patrick, "These are for Liv and Noah." He said before turning and practically running away.

"Hey Patrick, let me know when Barba gets here." Olivia said coming into the living room drying her hair with a towel wearing yoga pants and her NYPD sweatshirt.

"Um, I'm not sure but I think he was just here." Patrick said holding up the coffee and pastries.

"Damn it Patrick, did you explain things to him?" She asked

"Didn't really think that was my place Liv. If you want that man though I suggest you run, because the look on his face said he wasn't coming back." Patrick told her.

"Damn it." Olivia said again before remembering there were two four year olds in the room.

"You got them?" She asked looking over at the kids watching TV as she pulled on a pair of shoes.

"Of course, go get him Liv." Patrick said with a smile.

Olivia flew out of the apartment and down the stairs onto the street. She called Barba while she ran but of course he didn't answer. She spotted him once she reached the street. "Barba" She called out after him and watched him stop and slowly turn back to her.

"What do you want Olivia." Barba asked his voice icy cold.

"I wanted breakfast with you and to go to the zoo with you today." She answered.

"After spending the night with your ex-partner. I'm sorry Olivia I can't do that. If you want something with him I'm not going to stand in your way, I know you have a history, but I can't just be your on and off again person to hang out with either." Baba told her.

"What the hell are you talking about ?" She asked him, "The only history that Patrick and I have is that we were partners over two decades ago and have stayed friends."

"Finn told me you two had issues." Barba practically spat at her.

Olivia rolled her eyes, "You listened to Finn? The only issue Patrick and I had was the he didn't want me going to SVU he wanted me in homicide with him."

Barba stared at her for a second, "Well that still doesn't explain why he's in your apartment half-dressed at nine in the morning."

Olivia was growing angry, "First of all I don't have to explain myself to you, but if you must know Patrick spent the night because his daughter fell asleep before we got back last night and I said they could just stay so didn't have to wake her."

"His daughter?" Barba asked in confusion.

"Yes, Patrick's husband is out of town which is why he couldn't go to the reunion with him so we decided to go together and let Noah and Ella play together." Olivia explained now enjoying the look on Barba's face.

"Patrick's husband?" He asked, his embarrassment beginning to grow.

Oliva smiled a smug smile and took a step closer to him, "Yes, Rafael, Patrick's husband Charles is out of town, are you sufficiently caught up now and would you like to explain your behavior?"

Barba closed the remaining space between them, "My behavior can only be explained by saying that I'm an idiot and that I am sorry. "

"Is it possible maybe you were a little jealous?" Oliva asked watching him squirm.

Barba shook his head, "No, I was very jealous," he said as he took her hand, "I don't want to just be your friend Olivia and I didn't like the thought of you out with someone else last night."

Olivia laced her fingers with his, "If it makes you feel any better Patrick offered to go pick you up half way through the evening because he said I wouldn't stop talking about you."

Barba wrapped his free arm around her waist pulling her even closer, "Want to tell me what you were saying?" He asked her with the first smile since they had started talking.

"I don't want with of us to say anything right now Barba." She told him as she pressed her lips to his.

"Would you like to go back and eat breakfast and meet my first parent now?" Olivia asked him with a smile.

"I'd rather stay here and kiss you again."

Olivia linked her arm in his and pulled him along, "Come on there will be plenty of that later."

The End


End file.
